DETAILED plans have been submitted to Vale Royal Borough Council for a multi-million pound transformation of Winsford's town centre.

Modus Properties, the new owner of Winsford shopping precinct, has given council planners blueprints of its ambitious refurbishment scheme, which includes a £2m multi-storey car park.

Workers are now preparing to install the rebranded shopping centre's new logo ­ from now on the 1960s precinct is to be known as Winsford Cross Shopping Centre.

A spokesman said: 'Modus Properties are looking for the Christmas period to be the start of great things to come at Winsford Cross Shopping Centre, with the old centre set to benefit from a major refurbishment and rebranding programme which will include extensive changes.

'The plans have now been submitted to the council and next we will be putting up our new logo, which looks very spectacular. We are planning big things for the shopping centre.'

As well as the car park, which Modus says has been designed to provide improved security and access to the shopping centre, the Manchester-based firm plans to spend £500,000 on installing automatic doors.

A further £1.8m is being spent on expanding the shopping centre by building new shops adjacent to Asda.

Modus hopes to complete its expansion project by Easter 2003 and it has already entered into talks with big-name retailers.

The Asda store is also to be extended and a new entrance to the shopping centre will be created, linking the planned multi-storey car park, which will provide 920 free parking spaces.

Modus, which bought the shopping centre earlier this year for £18m, is also looking to implement a £400,000 programme of improvements to town centre roads and pedestrian links to make the centre more accessible and encourage out-of-town visitors.

The spokesman added: 'This is a key element to the Modus philosophy in attempting to improve the ease with which local shoppers can visit the shopping centre, while looking to attract other consumers from further afield by highlighting the car parking facilities and improving the mix of tenants.'